U.S. Pat. No. 4,525,957 issued July 2, 1985 for Apparatus and Method for Finishing Radial Commutator discloses a grinding method for finishing the face surfaces of conductor segments of a radial face type commutator following a facing operation in which the surfaces of the conductor segments are fixtured on a lathe having a single point cutter passed laterally of the conductor segments to remove a predetermined depth of material from the conductor segments in preparation for a grinding step which forms a roughness pattern on the commutator suitable for run-in of brush components associated with the commutator in a brush commutated electric motor assembly. Such lathe operations have resulted in the formation of slot burrs between each of the conductor segments.
In order to finish such commutators it has been necessary to provide a separate cleaning step in which a knife tool is drawn through each of the commutator slots to remove burrs therefrom. U.S. Pat. No. 4,686,730 issued Aug. 18, 1987 for Semi-Automatic Armature Assembly Slot Cleaner discloses a tool which has a plurality of blades that will simultaneously clean all of the slots in a machined and assembled commutator assembly so as to remove slot burrs and thereby provide a face configuration for finishing in accordance with U.S. Pat. No. 4,525,957.